An analytical look at five significant questions in college basketball this week:

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1. In light of Nerlens Noel’s torn ACL, should the NBA stick with the one-and-done rule?

DeCourcy: Well, not exactly. It would be in the NBA’s best interest to extend the age limit another year, to 20 and two years removed from high school. It would be in the NCAA’s best interest to both take better care of the players under its charge, both in terms of allowing a yearly stipend for the athletes in fully funded sports and also to examine ways in which the athletes might have access to the money that gathers around the sport.

Is that through sponsorship, publicity rights, allowing agency representation? I’m not sure. I am sure it’s highly unlikely the presidents who run the NCAA would be so enlightened, just as I’m sure that agents will continue to dissuade the NBA Players Association from agreeing to a more restrictive age limit.

It does seem rather pathetic that many of the same media voices who lament the apparent deterioration of the game, who so quickly blame that development on summer travel-team basketball, are so eager to take teenagers out of that supposed wasteland and plop them into the greatest basketball league on the planet.

The NBA is opposed to this because its league is not the place to learn what a “down-screen” is. The NCAA provides that elementary training along with high-level competition and, for many, an introduction to the concept that the games actually matter. People care who wins. That consequence makes a better basketball player for the NBA.

It’s important that athletes be as protected as possible while preparing for careers in the NBA. Let’s be honest, though: Devastating injuries can happen even in pickup games.

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2. How remarkable is Shane Larkin's rise to stardom on a top-five team at Miami?

DeCourcy: Sometimes a coach gets lucky in recruiting, but Miami hit a jackpot here. Larkin’s discomfort upon spending time at DePaul in the summer before his freshman year led him to pursue a transfer closer to his Orlando, Fla., home.

Consider how remarkable it is that DePaul got him in the first place, given that his uncle, Byron, is Xavier’s career scoring leader and still the analyst on the school’s radio network. Xavier wasn’t heavily involved, so the Blue Demons beat Clemson, Colorado and South Florida, among others.

Consider how remarkable it is that Larkin didn’t enjoy a Chicago summer. Between June and August, there may be no better place on the planet, but he wanted out.

Consider how remarkable it is that one of the schools that recruited Larkin in high school was George Mason, where Jim Larranaga worked at the time. So the connections he and his staff had made during that process made it a good deal easier for Larkin to find a new home at Miami upon departing DePaul.

This might be as fine an example of serendipity as we’ve seen in basketball recruiting.

Everything that had to go right for the Hurricanes did go right. That includes Larkin’s blossoming into a high-level Division I point guard. He had a solid freshman season but nothing that indicated he would average 13.0 points, 4.3 assists and 2.2 steals per game and shoot 47.7 percent from the field and better than 43.4 percent on 3-pointers (his numbers entering Wednesday's action).

Larranaga is a fantastic coach. But even the best need a little good fortune now and then.

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3. With many clubs dealing with major injuries, how does that complicate the selection committee’s job?

DeCourcy: It complicates the process in different ways that can’t be fully recognized at the moment.

By the time we get to Selection Sunday, we should have an idea whether Ryan Kelly will play for Duke. We’ll be fully aware of how good the Blue Devils became without him; if he is able to return, we might not know for certain how effective his reintroduction makes them. It seems likely the committee merely will have to just evaluate the Duke of the past couple months.

What about Lehigh? With a healthy C.J. McCollum, the Mountain Hawks appeared likely to contend for a No. 12 seed. They’re 7-1 in conference without him but unlikely to climb that high on the bracket if they can get the Patriot League’s automatic bid. How much does he have to play, and how well, to convince the committee it’d not only be unfair to Lehigh to bury the team deep in the bracket, but also to the highly seeded team that might feel the same sting as Duke last year.

Of all the aspects of the NCAA Tournament that are challenging to project, this might be the most difficult, especially this early in the process.

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4. Michigan State center Derrick Nix called the Wolverines “soft.” Is he right?

DeCourcy: He’s wrong, and also a shade reckless. Why anger the Wolverines when the Spartans have to play them again March 2? If MSU believes that, why not keep it as the sort of “local knowledge” that could help the next time around.

It is true that the Wolverines aren’t huge. That’s always been an area of concern in regards to their national championship hopes. They’ve played 6-6 freshman Glenn Robinson III at power forward, and seeing too many guys like Adreian Payne and Christian Watford has made it difficult for Robinson to excel. In the team’s three losses over four games, he scored a combined eight points.

Any plans to play big men Jordan Morgan and Mitch McGary in tandem recently were spoiled by Morgan’s ankle injury. He only went nine minutes against MSU. We won’t really know how tough Michigan is until it can line up the two of them when it faces a bigger team, such as the Spartans. Perhaps that will arrive in a couple of weeks.

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5. Just when we seem to get a handle on the player of the year, the picture changes. Who's your pick?

DeCourcy: Right now, my vote would go to “Silver Linings Playbook” although I expect "Argo" to win. Still have to see “Amour,” though.

That is about as close as I’m going to get to answering this particular question at this most confusing moment in the season.